Thousands of thunder, heavy rain, lightning in the sky ... Even to modern man, these natural phenomena inspire some fear. Imagine what it was like for people who lived ten to fifteen centuries earlier!
Then the man has just started to take possession ofnatural secrets, much it was incomprehensible to him. And everything that could not be explained from the point of view of logic or science, he explained by the existence of supernatural forces and gods. The god of thunder and lightning was at that time the most important among other deities. He was worshiped most of all, he was feared and revered.
Perun - the god of thunder, lightning and war in the Slavicpeoples. It was believed that it amazes those who are guilty or somehow angered him. In order to cajole Perun, animals were sacrificed to him, and also a symbol in the form of lightning was cut out in each house. His name is found in many historical sources. For example, in The Tale of Bygone Years, written by Nestor, Neptune is mentioned more than ten times. The God of thunder and lightning among the Slavs caused trembling and fear; they even said: "Grasp you by Perun!", which meant the wish for troubles and misfortunes.
People believed that Perun punishes non-compliancespecial laws (which were something like a Bible for Christians). It was believed that on those who did not please him, Perun would send stones, axes, arrows and, of course, thunder and lightning. If a family, or even a whole village, was overpowered by crop failures and, as a result, hunger and disease, it meant Perun's intervention and served as a "reminder" that people were waging an unruly life and not working hard enough.
God of thunder and lightning was one of the first explanationsunexplored phenomena of nature. The cult of Perun was born even more than three millennia ago. However, he was not only afraid, but also asked for well-being. People believed that in the case of regular sacrifices and unconditional worship, Perun would grant them prosperity, save them from disease, make sure that the crops were rich.
Perun was considered the progenitor of all Slavs.In addition to carved from the tree of idols, people also had images of God: he was a powerful warrior with blue-black hair with gray hair and a long beard of fire.
In Kievan Rus, the god of thunder and lightning became the subject ofworship in the VI century. Later, the development of this cult, as it turned out by the results of numerous studies of paganism, contributed to Prince Vladimir himself. Even after his order in Russia was adopted by Christianity, a wooden idol, symbolizing Perun, was not burned like many other figures of the gods, but allowed along the Dnieper. Vladimir could not do this, since the remnants of the old faith in pagan deities still held firmly in people's minds. He was scared to completely destroy the symbol of prosperous life and successful conduct of military affairs.
The god of thunder and lightning was not only among the Slavicpeoples. The ancient Greeks considered Zeus to be the main god. In Germanic-Scandinavian mythology, a deity capable of sending karas in the form of destructive lightning is Thor, and in India Indra.
The times when people believed in pagangods, have passed. However, even now there are those who are called Old Believers: they, continuing the traditions of their ancestors, worship the most ancient gods, among whom, of course, there is Perun.
